The World Outside
by TriniTea
Summary: All she wants to do, is stay in the Framework and imagine the world outside doesn't exist. Post Framework AU.


...

 **Author's Note: Okay, I'm finally writing some framework stuff. Sue me! I originally didn't want to, but I couldn't resist. Also because I wanted to share the fanart I drew for the cover.**

 **But I decided to mix it up a little bit. This takes place post framework.**

 **I hope you enjoy :) I also hope that this doesn't suck because I decided I wanted to do this like, a week ago, and I wanted to get it out before the new episode premiers. So…yeah.**

...

They did it, they saved the day. Skye and Jemma were able to go into the framework and wake the team from the inside. But she's not celebrating, she can't celebrate. Not while the image of Grant Ward gazes deeply into her eyes.

She is well aware that it isn't the real Ward standing in front of her, but she almost forgot that he—it is an illusion. When she woke up in the framework she thought that there had been a mistake. She thought her boyfriend was Lincoln, but found Ward sleeping in their bed. At first she thought Ward couldn't be her biggest regret, after all the things that he did to her, after everything he did to the team. She thought that she hated him, but the framework begged to differ.

"Skye...What—what's going on?" Ward's eyes darted around their surroundings. The framework is being torn apart as the team is being woken up. There are white tears in the world around them, burning into the rest of the surroundings like fire burning paper into nothingness.

She forces a weak smile, trying to ignore the water building up in the corner of her eyes. "None of this is real, this is all an illusion."

"No, this isn't," Ward says in disbelief. "This isn't a lie!"

Skye shakes her head. "It is," she managed to choke out. Ward looks like he's going to protest, but accepts it as it is, probably due to the overwhelming evidence around them.

She stares at him until she feels a sudden pain deep inside her bone than runs throughout her body. Skye feels herself growing heavier. Every cell in her body feels the shift. It hits her so hard that she struggles to stands still and falls to her knees under the weight.

"Skye!" Ward crouches down beside her, wrapping his arm around her back. "Are you alright?"

"I feel heavier. I'm—I'm waking up." Ward opens his mouth to speak, but no words are produced. Even though this Ward isn't real, his emotions are life-like, maybe even real. He has the same sadness that she has in her eyes.

She tears her gaze away from him and stares at the white patch growing beneath her feet. His sorrow is too much for her to bear.

She stays there, on her knees, hands pressed against the ground, wanting to curl up into a little ball and cry. Her breaths are shallow, but heavy. She doesn't want to say goodbye, not again. Skye is happy here, _they_ are happy here, but it's slipping through her fingertips and she can't hold on to it.

Then she feels his hand against her cheek and he guides her head up to face him and he gets her to sit up straight. Ward smiles at her. Despite the world crumpling around them, he actually smiles sincerely are her.

"Will you return to the real world?" His voice is soft with no signs for anger or grief.

Skye nods, still shaking against his hand.

"Will you be safe?"

Skye nods again, shutting her eyes tightly in order to hold back tears.

"Well, that's all that matters, isn't it?" Ward asks as he brushes his thumb down her cheek, wiping away the streaks of tears.

"No-no it isn't. I can't leave you...I don't wait to say goodbye."

He pulls her into his arms, holding her tightly. "Shhh, it's alright."

Skye buries herself into his shoulder and swallows hard. "I—I finally get you back and now I have to leave you again?" Tears fall onto Ward's brown leather jacket like a dam that busted and that cannot be stopped.

Ward pulls away from her embrace to look her in the eye and say, "You said it yourself; I'm not real. You have a life outside of this. You have people to protect, people that care about you. You can't stay here, would the real Grant want you to? Would he want you to live in another lie?"

Skye shakes her head. "I just don't know how I'll go on with—without you." She is a sobbing mess with eyes that are red, puffy and dripping with tears, yet this Ward is staring at her like she's the most beautiful thing he has ever seen.

"Well, you're Skye; you'll find away, you always do." Ward pushes aside a lock of hair from her face, and places a gentle kiss on her forehead. "You're strong, Skye. You can fight for that happy ending."

"But you— _he_ is my happy ending!" Why was this so hard to him to understand? Skye doesn't want to leave she wants to stay here and be with Ward. _She wants to imagine the world outside doesn't exist._

"It will be alright. Grant would want you to be happy, right?"

"Yes, yes he would," Skye replies, her voice shaky.

"So don't let anything get in the way of your happiness." He leans forward so their foreheads are touching. "I—Grant loves you."

His words crash over like a wave. Even though it's just three little words, she almost forgets what to say. "Grant I—". Skye can feel him fade away under her grasp and she can see the virtual reality turn to white.

…

She gasps like coming up for a first breath of air after being submerged in water. Her eyes shoot open. "Grant!" She screams, pushing herself up from the table.

"Grant?" Daisy turns to see Jemma, standing beside her. Her tone of voice is both parts of concerned and confused. "As it Grant Ward?"

"I—I," Daisy pulls the headgear off of her and stumbles onto the floor. All of the agents in the room stare at her. "I—I have to go." She tears herself from Simmons' baffled expression. She hurries away from the control room, away from prying eyes. She desperately needs something to numb the pain.

As she walks through the halls, she can't help but to fall into the rabbit-hole of the memories of Ward; training with him, playing battleship, the drink the shared once, it all comes back to her.

Daisy doesn't think about Ward often, she believed that she moved past that. But now all of those neglected memories come flooding back at once and she can't stop herself from drowning in them. There are memories of the good times and the bad, but the good shine out to her like a homing beacon.

Daisy makes her way to one of the common area of Zephyr-1. It's unoccupied. She's relieved. She opens the bar fridge, but Daisy needs something much stronger than beer. Daisy closes the door and pulls a bottle of scotch from the shelf. She takes a seat on one of the bar stools and pours herself the amber liquid.

When she was in the framework, Daisy tried her best to not lose herself in the illusion. She made a mistake by thinking that it would be easy. At the time, she didn't even realize that she was slipping into the idealistic fantasy. At first she didn't want a reality where her and Ward are together.

But as she spent more time in the framework, she started to realize why it was so easy to lose herself in the lie.

Everything about the Ward there reminded her of the real one. He was a cold, hard, government tool-bag like he was in real life, but he was also loving to her and never let anything happen to her. The way he rolled his eyes at her witty remark, the way he kissed her temple or held her in his arms, it all reminded her of the Grant Ward that she used to know; when they were friends, when they were almost lovers, when she was happy.

It pained her to say goodbye. She knows it would have to come eventually, but she didn't know that it would be so damn hard to do. It was the last time she would be able to see his face, see him smile. He told her that he—Grant loves her, but now she'll never get the chance to respond.

But by far the worst part about is that she'll always know that she could have had that life if she gave him a chance. _If_ she didn't make that single mistake, her life could have been entirely different and Ward would be in it. They were happy there, _she_ was happy there, but now she can never have that. She can't turn go back in time or wave a wand and fix her mistakes, but she wish she could. More than anything else, she wishes she could have made the right choice back then.

But a world of what ifs won't change what is.

In the world outside, he is gone and gone for good this time. His corpse was rotting on the grim planet where Coulson crushed his heart but now is blown to bits and floating the void of space, to the point to no return. Grant Ward is dead and she's never getting him back, no matter how many stars she wishes on.

Daisy downs the scotch in one gulp. It burned her throat as she swallowed, but it failed to drown out the pain in her head. She puts the glass down, eyeing the bottle and pours herself a second glass.

One would think that she had moved on, she was with Lincoln. She was happy. He made her smile, he made her laugh and she loved him with no doubt. She thought that his death was her biggest regret, but somehow it wasn't.

She was only with Ward for basically a day. She was with Lincoln for months. Daisy was probably on good terms with Lincoln longer than she was with Ward. But there was just something about her time with Ward. She couldn't tell if he made her happier, but it was just different from when she was with Lincoln. Maybe she was better with Ward. They were both broken people that fit together so perfectly, which Lincoln was a charming, sweet guy that she liked to be around.

Daisy is so lost in thought that she doesn't hear Jemma walk in.

"Hey," Jemma greets, catching Daisy's attention.

Daisy mutters a quick, "Hey," as Jemma takes a set beside her.

"So what did you see inside the framework? What did you see?" Jemma asks, pouring herself a drink. "I was dead and I was turned into an LMD by billionaire, Tony Stark-esque Fitz."

Daisy swallows hard. She swirls her drink around her glass before peeping, "Ward was alive and—and we were together. He is my biggest regret."

Jemma freezes, the bottle of scotch nearly slipping out of her hands. She opens her mouth to speak, but let actions speak louder than words. Jemma places the bottle down and throws her hands around Daisy, pulling her into an embrace.

Daisy buries herself into the other woman's shoulder. Usually she would mimic May and try to keep her feelings locked down at her walls up, but she lets the tears stream down her face.

"I hated him," Daisy chokes on her sobs. "But now I miss him _so_ much and I hate it."

"It's alright." Jemma stokes Daisy's back tenderly.

"No-no it isn't! That could have been my life! I could have saved him from himself! I have to live knowing it was _my_ mistake!" Daisy goes wide eyed at a sudden revelation. "What if I don't have to remember?..."

Jemma pulls out of Daisy's arms. "You can't. You've seen what The TAHITI Program has done to people! You can't do this to yourself!"

"They only went insane because they didn't see the Kree map! And it might be different, I'm not being brought back to life or taking GH-325!" Daisy protests, "Things can be simpler again! I can just hate him! I wouldn't have that lingering regret following me!"

It's a simple solution. She wouldn't have to deal with lingering regret for the rest of her life! Isn't this why she came for a drink in the first place; to numb the pain and forget the rest? But if she goes through The TAHITI Program, there will be no pain to numb in the first place. Why can't Jemma see that? For such an intellectual mind, is it that hard for her to see in the clear answer?

Well, Jemma doesn't think it's the answer.

"Running away is not the answer Daisy!" Jemma takes her hand. "That's just not the answer! You rise about things like this! Grant Ward is only a part of your life, he will always be, but he doesn't define you are for the rest of your life, you do."

Daisy closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry that was stupid, you're right." She wipes the water in her eyes. "I don't even know why I thought of that. It's stupid."

"Daisy, I know you're hurting, but you're stronger than this. You'll make it out in one piece, you always do." Jemma puts a hand at her shoulder and smiles.

She pulls herself into Jemma's arms again. "Thank Jemma."

"No problem."

Grant Ward was only a chapter of her life. She misses him, she realizes that she'll always miss him and what they had, but she can be strong. She can do something he was never able to do; find closure, but in the right way. She'll try move on, she'll finally try and take a step forward and not back, that's what Grant would have wanted anyways.


End file.
